Purchase price of your car vs. income (ratio) poll

[djfajt71]

I came in around 29%, that was 7 years ago.  I paid it off in 4 and am planning on keeping it another 5 years.  I'm taking my "car payment" and setting it aside to purchase my next one. 

[jkelley9]

12 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

That and, someone could have their first job after college making 30k and they buy a Honda Civic for 15k or 50% of their income.  Not extravagant at all, practical actually.

Or, a 60 year old who has retired, has 2 million invested, only made 50k because the bond market sucked last year, and buys a 60k Lexus, 120% of their income.  Also not extravagant at all.

I'm not a car person, I like to get from A to B.  I drive a 2003 Honda Civic.  Some people really love cars and put a lot more of their budget towards a car.  Even still, maybe I pay more on restaurants per month than their monthly car payment.  Different strokes for different folks.

What does any of it mean.. Not much.  What is more meaningful is how much someone saves as a % or their income (but even that would have to be stratified by age group).

Definitely good, obvious, points (no offense or anything). 

The $2M+50k example is what I'd call a severe outlier - it has a lot to do with age, remaining life expectancy (so he's making 50k in income but is annually spending.... what?) yes I specified "income" but again, I'm trying to boil down and I think most people on these boards are intelligent enough to infer. That's where in my OP 3rd paragraph I said "just use your best judgement." Obviously inputting a 120% there would be "technically" correct but also sabotage-y. 

Buying a new Honda Civic fresh out of college still fits into my example. Sure some would think it's practical, but again, buying X amount of car when you are making X amount of money. Still fits for me, so I wouldn't call that an outlier. 

[Let it Fly]

Bought my '09 Maxima 6 years ago, and if I could go back in time I'd drag my former-self out of the dealership by the collar.  A relationship with the girl I thought I was going to marry had just ended, and I dove right into a hot car to fill the void.

Today it's paid off and still running well (knock on wood) at 155k miles.  Certainly learned a life lesson, as a little thing called "401k" is now a large part of my vocabulary.  

[Yukari]

~10% at the time of purchase. Now 0 as my car was paid off about 4 years ago. 

[Wally Fairway]

I'm probably not the guy to ask for advice as I buy them so infrequently, here is my car buying history (these are just the ones that were my personal daily drivers)

- 1987 Saab 9000 Turbo, purchased used in 1998 for about 20% of my income (paid cash as there was a nice bonus that year) it died with 198,000
- 1999 GMC Suburban, purchased used in 2000 for about $33% of my income (had to finance that one, as we had 4 young kids it was a baby and baby crap hauler). It survived until 2013 when my then 17 year old son rolled it and hit a tree, 2 separate incidents, and killed it at 288,000
- 2008 Ford Fusion, purchased used in 2010 for about 22% of my income, still driving that one - it is in relatively and only has 216,000 miles on it.

I plan on looking back at this thread around 2024 when I'm hoping that I will need a new ride (no-jinxing)

[jsgolfer]

I was at 16% when I bought my car, Mazda 3 Hatchback, it will be paid off in November,.  I won't be getting another one anytime soon, unless the current one craps the bed.  But since it already has 112,000 miles on it, I'm thinking it will go for another hundred thousand miles.  

[CarlSpackler]

About 9% for me, but that's the more expensive car. My used Mustang convertible is about 4%. My Harley on the other hand...

[boogielicious]

My ratio:

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628

[Shindig]

Bought my car used in late summer 2007 when I was in graduate school and my previous car was likely about to die.  Still going strong.  The purchase price was a good deal of my income then, but is a much smaller portion of my income now -- even discounting how many years it has served me. 

[JxQx]

Mine was around 35%. I'm kind of a car guy and got something I thoroughly enjoy driving every day. I also plan to keep it for a very long time so I could justify the cost to myself.

[jkelley9]

5 hours ago, boogielicious said:

My ratio:

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628

How much for the rest of the car, not just the wheel?

<<DA-DUH.. CHUH>>